UPDATED August 7, 2013

Efforts to Change Voting Laws

The Supreme Court in June struck down a portion of the Voting Rights Act that required some places, mostly in the South, to obtain federal permission, or preclearance, before changing their voting procedures. Since then, several of those places have moved ahead with new restrictions on voting eligibility.Related Article »

Areas previously covered by Section 5 of the Voting Rights Act

NY

MI

SD

CA

FL

NC

VA

AK

AZ

LA

GA

SC

AL

MS

TX

Gov. Rick Scott, a Republican, is initiating a new scrub of the state’s voter registration system to remove noncitizens from the rolls. A similar effort before the 2012 presidential election failed
after facing several legal challenges.

FLORIDA

The Republican legislature has sent a bill to the governor that would require a government-issued photo ID to vote, cut back on the number of early voting days in the state and end same-day voter registration.

Lawmakers passed a photo identification requirement in 2010 that was set to go into effect in 2014, pending preclearance. The law is now set to be put into place.

A ballot initiative requiring photo identification was approved in 2011 and put into legislation in 2012, but it had been waiting for federal preclearance. Since the decision, officials in the state have
moved to enforce the law.

Newly drawn district maps and a new voter identification law had been denied preclearance by a federal court, but shortly after the Supreme Court ruling, state officials said they would begin putting them
in effect. The Obama administration has moved to block the changes.